Silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor materials can exist of various crystalline forms and can be used to construct various SiC based circuits and devices. In comparison with the commonly used silicon, SiC materials possess properties such as a wide bandgap structure and higher breakdown field. These properties make SiC materials attractive for a wide range of circuits and applications including high power electronics.
A field-effect transistor (FET) is a transistor that uses an electric field to control the shape and in turn the conductivity of a channel of one type of charge carrier in a semiconductor material. FETs are unipolar transistors that involve single-carrier-type operation. FETs can be structured to include an active channel through which majority charge carriers, e.g., such as electrons or holes, flow from a source to a drain. The main terminals of a FET include a source, through which the majority carriers enter the channel; a drain, through which the majority carriers leave the channel; and a gate, the terminal that modulates the channel conductivity. For example, source and drain terminal conductors can be connected to the semiconductor through ohmic contacts. The channel conductivity is a function of the potential applied across the gate and source terminals.